ABDUCTION EXPERIENCES IN LATIN AMERICA

It is curious that while instances of alleged abduction by UFO aliens are r

ife in North America, they should be considerably less virulent in the Spanish-s
peaking regions of the world. This is made all the more curious due to the fact
that one of the earliest cases, and the one most readily memorable, is without q
uestion the Antonio Villas-Boas abduction (Brazil, 1952). Its graphic retelling
of the victim's overpowering by helmeted aliens, the oft-mentioned sexual interl
ude with a space "siren" and the severe physiological aftereffects suffered by V
illas-Boas rocked the nascent discipline of ufology to the core. But that was in
days long gone by, when UFO abductions involved the physical interference with
a single or many humans in a deserted location, usually a rural highway, a deser
t or a forest--way before the ubiquitous "Greys" were transporting helpless expe
riencers through their bedroom walls, inducing pregnancies and involving them in
apparent genetic studies.
Comparative analysts like T.E. Bullard have pointed out that the abduction
phenomenon is largely an American one, with one of every two cases coming out o
f the U.S. and Canada -- half of all abduction experiences are "made in the U.S.
A." This gives us another half distributed around the rest of the planet, and th
e Spanish-speaking regions of the world certainly have their fair share. What is
the modus operandi of the abductors in these locations? Are there any Greys, No
rdics or other non-humans involved? Is hypnosis a tool of choice as it is here?
We shall examine a number of cases first.
An abduction through meditation?
Puerto Rico, notorious for its intense UFO activity and the depredations o
f the now-legendary Chupacabras, boasts a considerable number of UFO abduction c
ases. One of these cases stands out among the others due to the possibility that
the experiencer's efforts at meditation "opened up" a path for abducting Greys
to enter her life.
Delia V., a housewife with two children, had no idea that her interest in
Yoga would turn her into an abductee when she and a friend visited a yoga temple
in October 1991 to practice meditative techniques. At 7:30 p.m., Delia decided
to withrdraw from the meditation circle and go to bed early. Once in bed, she fe
lt a hand covering her face, and was unable to see who her potential assailant w
as due to the darkness in the bedroom. It was then that she became aware of the
fact that she was flying in mid-air toward a given point in space: buildings, st
reets and automobiles remained far below Delia as she drifted upward, but far fr
om feeling elated at the sight, she was paralyzed by fear.
The next thing she remembers is being back in bed at the yoga temple at fi
ve o'clock in the morning, feeling sick to her stomach and racked by excruciatin
g pain. Stumbling out of her room, she told the meditation instructor what had h
appened, and he advised her to simply return to sleep, which she did. Reawakenin
g at noon, not only did she feel physically better -- her entire outlook on life
had been changed, by her own admission.
During the following months, some physical changes had also come about as
a consequence of that unusual night: her menstrual cycle now ran every 50 days o
r so, and her stomach became slightly enlarged.
A subsequent experience revealed the UFO connection to her experiences: sh
ortly after seeing a brilliant craft in the sky, she found herself standing in a
metallic chamber occupied by a dozen or so very small, non-human beings clad in
grey. Delia remembers lying on a bed, screaming and crying, telling one of the
bizarre figures that she could not give normal birth to the child she was carryi
ng because her other children had been born by cesarean section. "When I woke up
," Delia says. "I saw one of the extraterrestrials with a child in his arms. Whe
n I saw this child something deep inside me told me he was my child, but I also
remember being afraid. I remember telling one of the extraterrestrials that I co
nsidered this child strange, because he was half human and half extraterrestrial
." Delia was then given the child to hold, and was told by the creatures that it
could not live among humans because it could not eat human food.
Delia's case echoes the hundreds of abduction experiences collected by U.S
. investigators. It has observed that Puerto Rican abduction cases have a strong
er environmental content to them than those on the mainland: experiencers are im
parted messages of ecological importance and cases involving hybridization are f
ew. The modus operandi of the abductors remains slightly behind the times -- the
controversial Amaury Rivera case (1988) involved interference with the experien
cer's vehicle. Other cases in which humans in lonely areas or alone at a late ho
ur have been victims of abductions are also on file.
The Importance of Ancestry
Rolando Quiroga Valero, age 51, of the town of Allende, not far from Monte
rrey, told his story of repeated alien abduction to a spellbound audience Corral
es-3 in a segment of a Miami-based talk show. "There are daily sightings over my
hometown," Quiroga observed laconically. "But no one cares."
Quiroga's first contact took place in 1950. He was with a group of friends
in Monterrey when he saw a discoidal craft hovering over his head at some 50 me
ters distance (some 160 feet). He was partially paralyzed by the vehicle, which
emitted a soft orange light and produced a soft whistling sound. He perceived be
ings watching him from the disc. His friends ran away.
The following year he had another contact experience, seeing a UFO cross t
he skies over Allende. 24 years later, he began to have strange, unbidden though
ts, which led him to fear for his state of mental health. He was soon after ab
le to hear a powerful male voice instructing him to "love all human beings". (It
is curious to observe that the standard 1950's contactee message of peace and l
ove continues to play a prominent role in these Latin American cases).
Quiroga believes that he was chosen because of his Mayan heritage: his ali
en contacts have hinted that the key to the UFO mystery lies in Man's decipherin
g of the Mayan hieroglyphs. His first physical encounter, however, came about in
1972, when he was "sanitized" by a ray of light and allowed into the presence o
f his hosts, who were "paranoid" about terrestrial viruses. These putative alien
s died of heart complications, and had a 130-year life span, although they did n
ot physically age beyond some human 40 years. The message entrusted to this Mexi
can contactee is a simple one, and it has been the cornerstone of all the messag
es given to contactees in the Spanish-speaking world: Earth is changing, whether
we like it or not. There will be a natural, not a man-made, disaster in the fut
ure which will change the tilt of the planet's axis. Humans must evolve in order
to survive. Ominously, he was also told that out of the many "alien races" that
are visiting our world, only six are friendly toward the human race.
Perhaps more amazing than their monotonous message is the fact that Quirog
a claims having been taken aboard a vehicle, where he underwent prostate and hea
rt surgery. The contactee's physician was amazed at the improvement in his patie
nt's condition, and was turned from skeptic into believer by what his eyes and i
nstruments told him. Communications with the ufonauts have not ceased: Quiroga w
as warned of the earthquake that rocked Mexico City in 1985 two years ahead of t
ime. "Their predictions," he says, "are usually of a negative nature."
Abduction experiences in Mexico tend to get blurred by contactee experienc
es. An early contactee, Armando Zurbar n, was taken from his car as he drove lat
e at night between Mexico City and Acapulco. There has recently been an revival
of contacteeism due to the successful "missionary activity" of Italian contactee
Giorgio Bongiovanni, whose millenialist prophecies have found fertile ground in
the crisis-torn land of the Aztecs.
The Darker Side
Not all experiencers find their hosts as sanguine as Mr. Valero's. The cas
ebooks of Latin American researchers are filled with incidents in which malice a
nd hostility played a significant role in the abduction. Dr. Rafael A. Lara, dir
ector of Mexico's Centro de Estudios de Fenmenos Paranormales (CEFP), includes in
his organization's newsletter the experiences of Adriana Martnez, a woman who ha
s experienced meddling in her life by forces purportedly linked with the UFO phe
nomenon.
Ms. Martinez's experiences began when she was only a teenager and a large
ball of glowing red light would materialize in her bedroom at night. Due to her
strict Catholic upbringing, she knew that such displays were associated with unw
holesome forces. The "fireballs", as she termed them, seemed to herald the awake
ning of her own psychic abilities, and the distressing phenomenon disappeared as
she became older.
Years later, now living in McAllen, Texas, a friend tol her to run outside
to see a UFO, although she wasn't in the least bit curious about such things. C
omplying with the request, she saw the strange glowing light, and soon afterward
began to experience auditive comunication with an alleged entity that claimed t
o be "her father." A luminous being appearing in a dream told her that she would
get to see this paternal figure if she went to a location in a small Mexican to
wn--Tepoztl n, now a center of "New Age" interest -- where a UFO display would b
e staged for her benefit.
On September 7 1983, at 10 o'clock at night, a light started to appear. In
Ms. Martinez's own words: "I leaped to the hotel window: above the hill there w
as a hamburger-shaped UFO, perfectly motionless, and it remained so for two hour
s. The power was going on and off all over the town. I later thought to make a t
riangle shape with my hands to communicate with the UFO, and they responded, sin
ce three red lights on the UFO assumed a triangular shape momentarily while gree
n, yellow, and red navigation lights flew around the craft. Sounds like dull exp
losions could be heard coming from within the UFO while its lights became bright
er. I went to the bathroom and told my friend that they were going to send her a
light, and that she should not be frightened. A bright beam issued from the UFO
aimed directly at the hotel window, right next to my friend. It was so powerful
that all the lights went out in Tepoztl n."
The entity with whom she had engaged in mental communication began to make
demands upon her, such as that she must divorce her then husband or become a wi
dow, informing her that he had no qualms about eliminating anyone that stood in
its path. While Ms. Martinez considered what to do, her husband had a terrible a
ccident on the highway. Allegedly, the entity asked her if that demonstration of
his power sufficed or if further proof was necessary.
Bitterly, she now believes that "contact is mere manipulation toward an en
d known only to them. They have given me no help whatsoever, and what they have
done for me, according to them, has been very unpleasant." She adds: "I see that
many contactees allow themselves to be manipulated without ever knowing where t
hey're going or allow themselves to be dazzled by small manifestations...of cou
rse, once the contactee is "hooked", there is no escape, and you accept your fat
e by hook or crook. I have rebelled terribly, but there is no escape but to fulf
ill their plans."
In 1980, a young TV and radio technician named Orlando Calizaya was abduct
ed by a UFO while taking a break from work. As he bicycled his way to the town o
f Capachos, he suddenly noticed that his small transistor radio went dead. Upon
getting off the bike, Calizaya was struck with an orange-colored beam that left
him paralyzed.
Calizaya subsequently remembered that "a Christ-like voice" addressed him
reassuringly, saying that no harm would be done to him. The stunned technician a
nd his bike were raised up by the light into a spaceship "like those seen in fil
ms." Not one to give up without a struggle, Calizaya tried to resist and somehow
escape from his captors, who proved to be three-eyed, large-eared humanoids, wh
o wished to know "the role oxygen played in the human body." The unsightly ufona
uts wore lilac-hued tunics and green trousers.
The young Bolivian became his country's first space traveler, if his accou
nt is to be believed, having spent 5 days on the alien's homeworld-a sojourn of
which he had not the least recollection. Calizaya found himself once more back i
n Bolivia at the very same spot from where he was forcibly abducted. A group of
highway workers picked him up and took him to a medical center. The aftermath of
the experience left the 23 year-old technician with a nervous disorder, unable
to work, and turned his once gregarious nature into a furtive one. Dr. Ruben Mar
tinez, the attending physician, diagnosed his patient as being "in a state of ps
ychomotor excitation".
Yet some manage to avoid being abducted, as in the case of "Lydia", a hous
ewife from Cabo Rojo, P.R., who was in the middle of doing housework one evening
in March 1993 when she observed a "brilliant cone" descending from the sky to a
location only scant meters away from her home. Intrigued by the phenomenon, she
stepped out to her backyard only to see an intensely white beam of light issuin
g from a hovering UFO. When she tried to turn around to re-enter her home, the h
ousewife claimed to feel "something like a beam drawing me toward the UFO."
"As soon as she managed to scream," observed a police officer who took th
e report, "the object rose into the air quickly and without any noise whatsoever
."
Saucers in Spain
Fernando Martinez (an alias given him by researcher Manuel Carballal), an
electrician from the city of La Coruva in northwestern Spain never believed that
a weekend of motor crossing on his freshly overhauled dirt bike would have ende
d in an abduction experience.
Sometime in late October 1986, Fernando drove his bike out to an abandoned
stone quarry near the locale of Culleredo. At around 9 p.m., he suddenly became
aware of a "star moving in the sky." The light became larger and larger until i
t became the size of a full moon. The astonished electrician noticed that the sp
ehere disgorged a number of smaller, orange-colored triangular craft -- one of w
hich initiated a rapid descent toward the abandoned quarry.
Realizing his predicament in a flash, Fernando tried to kickstart his dirt
bike in vain, even though it had been running perfectly earlier. The UFO was no
w a large object, some 30 feet wide, hovering over the surface. In the face of t
he phenomenon, the electrician got off the dirt bike and sat on the ground, wait
ing to see what would happen next.
Fernando remembers a powerful beam of light emanating from the orange tria
ngle, and two beings descending along the trail of light. The creatures were sma
ll and large-headed. They approached Fernando silentely, guiding him toward the
base of the hovering triangle. The human claims to have not felt any fear at the
time, and that no effort at communication was made by his captors.
The next thing he realized was that he stood in a large chamber in which a
third being, identical to the other two, came out to meet him, projecting reass
uring telepathic messages. He remembers being placed in a horizontal position an
d feeling pain in one of his arms.
His first conscious memory was that of lying on the gravel of the quarry i
n Culleredo. The dirt bike now worked perfectly, and the confused electrician ma
de his way home. Two hours of his life were inexplicably unnacounted for.
Fernando Martinez's UFO experience had unfortunate consequences in his ear
thly experience: a Spanish magazine published his story, causing his employer to
dismiss him. But he may be considered fortunate indeed in comparison to the exp
eriencer of another Spanish case: In 1989, researcher Manuel Carballal met "Mari
v" and her husband at a UFO conference in the city of Castellen, on Spain's Medit
erranean coast. Marivi was afflicted by large-headed "bedroom visitors" who abdu
cted her straight out of her bed while her husband was unmanned by the strange i
ntruders -- an experience well-known to stateside abduction researchers, whose w
orks the couple claimed to have never read.
Once aboard what she considered to be a spacecraft, Marivi was made to com
ply with her captors' wishes by sheer physical violence. In her case, the large-
headed Greys were merely robots of some sort at the service of tall, blonde huma
noids who despite their charismatic presence were by no means angelic. In her in
terview with Carballal, the abductee stated that she couldn't take much more of
these experiences, and was resigned to the fact that "she would die young."
From South America to You
The overtly sexual component of UFO abduction cases is strongly present in
this sampling of cases from the Hispanic world. A young Colombian woman, Monica
Mara Ortega, recounted her experiences of nocturnal sexual experiences with supp
osedly alien entities nationally syndicated television talk-show in November 199
1. Her experiences did not involved the ever-present "Greys", but rather, one of
the intriguing humanoids which are known to researchers variously as Blonds or
Nordics.
Ms. Ortega was twelve years old at the time and living in New York City wh
en this tall, blond, green-eyed entity suddenly materialized in her bedroom. "At
first, I saw two lights. I felt a presence, and naturally felt scared. One ligh
t was red in color and the other was green," she recalled. The lights told her n
ot fear for her safety. As she began to fall asleep, in spite of the luminous gl
obes' presence, she felt caresses and kisses all over her body as her nightcloth
es were removed. "I felt something spread my legs open and a sharp pain soon aft
er. I woke up, terrified,and saw a being in a tight-fitting outfit in bed with m
e. His eyes were so green that it made dizzy to look at them. I found him very h
andsome, was attracted to him and fell in love."Monica's lover and his silent co
mpanion (never manifested itself in human form) told her that they travelled aro
und the world. Curiosity, they advised her, was the motivation for their sexual
contacts.
After two years, Monica moved back to Colombia, and was overjoyed at seein
g her otherworldly lover again. At the end of their encounter, Monica expressed
a desire to go with him to "his world", but the being turned her down. 19 years
old at the time of the interview, the young woman had still not had sex with a h
uman male. "They have the advantage," she explained "of not making you pregnant.
"
Age does not appear to be an impediment in these affairs: during March 199
3, Ernesto Cab n, a golden-ager from the town of Adjuntas in Puerto Rico's centr
al region, claimed that a large object emitting multicolored lights made a soft
landing on a hillside close to his home. This did not surprise Cab n, who was qu
ite used to seeing UFOs over Adjuntas for decades--until he noticed three beings
, two males and a female, heading toward his house. The bemused earthling descri
bed his unexpected guests as tall, fair-skinned and with long blonde hair and bl
ue eyes.
Cab n claims that the large blonde aliens spoke "a somewhat strange" form
of Spanish, but made themselves clearly understood: he was to mate with their fe
male companion, and had no choice about it! The tall blonde female pointed out t
hat it would be necessary "as part of an experiment taking place on their homewo
rld". In true gentlemanly fashion, Cab n declined to describe the particulars of
the encounter, adding only that he hoped to live long enough to see the lovely
alien and perhaps be presented with a "little ET" -- his otherworldly offspring.
The Scientific Verdict
While the abductions of humans by superhuman forces of varying description
s appear to obey the same mechanisms worldwide, there has been little support fo
r abductees in Latin America or Spain. There is a growing number of medical and
scientific figures who have emerged as champions for the cause, but abduction ex
periences, as opposed to UFO cases, are met with perhaps greater skepticism in t
he Spanish-speaking countries than in the U.S. or the U.K.: During a convention
of mental health care professionals held in Spain in 1990, a psychiatrist was as
ked to give his expert opinion on perfectly normal individuals who insisted on h
aving experienced contact with alien creatures. "They're psychotic," the man dec
lared cuttingly. "Anyone who sees things that don't exist is psychotic."
In a report prepared on the case for alien abductions in Spain, analyzing
a dozen cases from 1947 to 1979 in which abduction by aliens was an issue, veter
an researcher Vicente Juan Ballester Olmos points out: "This systematic review o
f abduction reports has disclosed that all cases can be reasonably explained in
terms which do not defy present-day knowledge...it should be emphasized that the
resolution of these cases in terms of hoax, delusion or psychosis has been prop
osed by dedicated UFO researchers, not by debunkers or dogmatic skeptics; conseq
uently, it is unrealistic to suggest that the interpretations are biased."
Conclusions
In spite of the appearance of very important books on the subject of abduc
tions written in Spanish, namely by Antonio Ribera's Secuestrados por Extraterre
stres (Abducted by Extraterrestrials) and Manuel Carballal's Secuestrados por lo
s OVNIS (Abduction by UFOs), neither one has had the success of Budd Hopkins' Mi
ssing Time or any one of Whitley Strieber's works. Few Latin American and Spanis
h psychiatrists have expressed a willingness to handle patients who claim to hav
e been victims of alien abductions (there are notable exceptions, such as Puerto
Rico's Manuel Mndez del Toro) and there is a reticence on the percipient's part
to come forward with their experience.
In predominantly Catholic countries, experiencers might sooner chose to co
nfide in a priest, believing that they are the victims of demonic obsession. Abd
uction cases in the Hispanic world appear to have a strong tendency toward conta
cteeism, complete with dire warnings about the situations humans have created on
Earth by environmental pollution, warfare, etc., and urging humans to take a gr
eater "evolutionary step".